1. Field of the Invention: This application relates to amusement devices and more particularly to a device that includes a plurality of interconnected segments for articulation by a baby or young child.
2. Description of the Prior Art: Amusement devices having a plurality of essentially similar interconnected articulable segments are known in the art. One such device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,740,128. Operation of the described device relies upon the stringing together of plaques by means of a suitable elastic-type string placed through receiving holes in the base portions of the plaques. The attached plaques may be configured to form a stack, however, the plaques at each of the ends of the stack are normally not securable to each other. Additionally, the edges of the plaques opposite their bases are rounded and do not enable the string of plaques to be stood upright on these edges on a flat surface.
One other aspect of this prior art device is the permanent nature of the means by which adjacent plaques of the preferred embodiment of the prior art device are attached. Thus, a user normally can not separate the plaques of the device and then reassemble them. Since the segments are permanently secured to each other, the manipulative skill development to be realized from the "snap-in" engaging and disengaging of device segments is lost.
One embodiment of the described prior art device does use snap-in type securement sockets between adjacent plaques. However, the sockets and pins are located at one corner of the base portion of the plaque or segment resulting in a very unsecure connection. Even very low twisting forces on the segments tend to cause them to uncouple.
Additionally, the pin and socket arrangement is difficult for children to assemble. Children generally find it troublesome to establish proper alignment of the pins and sockets while, at the same time, applying the necessary coupling force to join the plaques.
The pin and socket arrangement is also difficult to manufacture since designs of this type are not readily adaptable to injection molding techniques.